Blaniulus guttulatus (Fabricius, 1798)

(Order Julida, family Blaniulidae)

The drawings of B. guttulatus above come from Evans (1943). Sixty years ago the so-called 'White Millipede' or 'Spotted Snake Millipede' was said to be particularly abundant around Hobart and Launceston, and 'probably widely distributed over the settled areas of the State' (Evans 1943: 83). It now seems to be much rarer. The only current locality I know of is the Queen Victoria Museum (Royal Park), where Sue Reid recently discovered B. guttulatus in fallen horse chestnuts in the car park.

B. guttulatus reaches ca. 12 mm in length. Like some specimens of Cylindroiulus brittanicus it has large pink spots along its sides, but it can be distinguished from C. brittanicus by its lack of eyes. It rapidly curls in a tight, flat spiral when disturbed.

B. guttulatus is said to prefer loamy soils rich in humus and local populations can be very dense. It has been found found burrowing into tubers, bulbs, and rotting, fallen fruit. It has also been reported to attack seedlings, e.g. peas in commercial crops. Because B. guttulatus is a farm and garden pest in many temperate countries (its country of origin is uncertain), there is a large print and Web literature on its biology and control.

The map below shows some of the known Tasmanian localities for B. guttulatus. It may once have occurred in gardens and on farms throughout the State, but its present distribution is uncertain.

(Some) localities for B. guttulatus. Scale bar = 100 km.
For an interactive map with more up-to-date localities, go to the mapper page.

More information:
 
Biology - Blower (1985), Hopkin & Read (1992)
Distribution, conservation and general - Evans (1943)